Zidane has nothing on pugnacious soccer mom
The lead paragraph of the newspaper story read: “It’s Sunday afternoon and a semifinal soccer match is dissolving into screaming and shoving. A referee is accosted, a supporter punched, a police officer who tries to intervene is scratched. Arrests are made and an embarrassed team is withdrawn from the tournament.”
No, this wasn’t a report on the recent Under-20 World Cup or another major international competition. This report, appearing in the Toronto Star, was about an under-8 match for boys in Pickering, Canada. The referee? A 14-year-old girl.
According to the Star, in the closing moments of the match, soccer mom Sandra Gutierrez, 39, went onto the field to confront the young referee. When the referee’s father came to protect his daughter, he allegedly was punched by Gutierrez. Then an off-duty police officer tried to intervene and he was allegedly attacked by Gutierrez and her husband, and that led to their arrest.
The thing is, their son’s team was leading, 3-1, at the time.
Imagine their outrage had the team been losing.
Trivia time
Who was the runner on first base when Hank Aaron hit his record-setting 715th home run on April 8, 1974, against the Dodgers?
He’s no big fish
Pitcher Scott Olsen of the Florida Marlins was recently arrested on charges of driving under the influence and resisting an officer with violence. Police said the arrest took place after Olsen tried to elude an officer, drove to his home in the Miami suburb of Aventura, then scuffled with two officers after first sitting down in a plastic chair in front of his house.
Observed Reggie Hayes of the Fort Wayne (Ind.) News-Sentinel: “Unbelievable. He’s making $380,000 a year and he has plastic lawn chairs.”
Now he’s a big deal
In March, the Dallas Cowboys signed free-agent Leonard Davis, a 6-foot-6, 354-pound offensive lineman who this summer used a tractor to rescue a horse stuck in the mud.
New Cowboys Coach Wade Phillips told reporters: “I don’t know that he needed that tractor.”
Who’s counting?
The Big Ten Conference will probably discuss adding one more school to its current 11, Commissioner Jim Delaney told the Des Moines Register.
Noted Dwight Perry of the Seattle Times: “The conference will immediately commemorate the addition of its 12th member by renaming itself the Big Eleven.”
Cote quotes
From Greg Cote of the Miami Herald: “Just woke up from the weirdest dream. Michael Vick, Barry Bonds and defrocked NBA referee Tim Donaghy were furiously pedaling up the Alps in the Tour de France.”
Also from Cote, on the doping disqualifications during the Tour: “If the trend continues, by process of elimination, next year’s Tour will be won by some 9-year-old kid on a cheap Schwinn with a banana seat.”
The case is clear
Scott Ostler of the San Francisco Chronicle, on critics who say steroids don’t help a baseball player’s hitting or pitching: “They must be awfully tasty, because a lot of guys risked their dignity, health and careers to take ‘em.”
Trivia answer
Darrell Evans, who reached on an error by shortstop Bill Russell. Evans, born in Pasadena, hit 414 home runs in his major league career and is now manager of the Long Beach Armada of the independent Golden Baseball League.
And finally
Al Downing, who served up Aaron’s record-breaking homer, says tongue-in-cheek that he decided years ago that if anyone were to ask him the time and it was 15 minutes past seven, he’d avoid saying 7:15. “I’d say, ‘A quarter after seven.’ ”
